Photo by AWard Tour.Over the weekend, a group of five lesbians accused several D.C. police officers of ignoring an attack by two men near the Columbia Heights Metro Station — and Chief Cathy Lanier says that she’ll punish them severely if she has to, possibly firing a group of seven if the results of an investigation prove that occurred, reports the Washington Blade.
The women claim that, after they spurning two men’s flirtatious advances on July 30 along 14th Street NW, they were verbally and physically assaulted. After several officers on the scene allegedly refused to take a report, the women went to the police department’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, which filed a report three days after the incident and classified the crime as a hate crime. According to the Blade, warrants for the arrest of the two suspects in the incident are pending.
Lanier met with gay activists last week about the incident, and promised there would be consequences:
In a private meeting on Aug. 4 with officials of the local group Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence, Lanier called the conduct by the officers “lazy policing,” according A.J. Singletary, the group’s chair.
“She said they’re going to be doing a thorough investigation but that type of offense can be punishable by termination,” Singletary quoted Lanier as saying. “So she laid it on the table that it’s possible that they may be fired. That depends on what the investigation determines,” he said.
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“I was appalled when I heard about the incident and the conduct of the officers,” Lanier said in a statement she released on Aug. 5. “Obviously, this is not the kind of service that the Metropolitan Police Department provides,” she said. “I have spoken with victims in this case and I want to assure them and the public that the incident and the conduct of the officers are being investigated thoroughly.”
Given how the department appears — even moreso than usual — to be struggling to handle issues involving LGBT residents of late, Lanier’s promise to crack down comes as no surprise.
